如果盟軍飛行員在二戰中被德國士兵俘虜，他的命運會如何？他會因為情報而受到審問和酷刑嗎？
在戰爭的前半段，有許多德國空軍以善意和尊重對待被擊落的盟軍飛行員的例子。飛行員道格拉斯·巴德和鮑勃·斯坦福·塔克在1941 年和1942 年被擊落後，都受到了德國王牌飛行員阿道夫·加蘭的招待和熱情款待。英國飛行員、雙腿截肢者巴德被擊落並被俘後，德國人甚至向英國皇家空軍發出訊號：說巴德很安全。他們說他是一名戰俘，但在跳傘時失去了假腿，並要求英國皇家空軍為他提供一條備用假腿，他們照做了。
巴德（抽著煙鬥）受到加蘭（中左）的招待。
一般來說，如果西方盟軍機組人員被俘，他們將被移交給德國空軍，德國空軍會審問他們幾天，但通常會遵守《日內瓦公約》的規則。作為戰俘的盟軍機組人員的生活條件並不舒適，食物也往往相當有限。幸運的是，這些人有時可以接觸到紅十字會的包裹，這可能在戰爭結束時讓他們得以生存。與蘇聯戰俘不同，95% 的西方盟軍戰俘在戰爭中倖存下來。平均而言，一週內死亡的蘇聯囚犯比整個戰爭期間所有其他西方盟國囚犯的總和還要多。
隨著戰爭的進展和空襲的加劇，德國的情況日益惡化。戈培爾在他的定期廣播中鼓勵德國平民將法律掌握在自己手中，並對他所謂的「恐怖飛行者」或恐怖傳單的爆炸事件進行報復。在呂塞爾海姆，美因茨和法蘭克福之間的一個地方，八名美國機組人員列隊穿過城鎮中心。附近的歐寶工廠前一天晚上遭到英國皇家空軍的轟炸，囚犯們遭到兩名德國婦女的攻擊，她們向她們丟磚頭。他們的守衛袖手旁觀，什麼也沒做。工廠裡的男性工人也加入其中，用鐵棍毆打機組人員。當囚犯流血受傷時，一名防空典獄長用手槍射擊了每個人的頭部。六槍後，他的彈藥耗盡，無法消滅剩下的受震蕩的飛行員。八具屍體被裝上一輛手推車，運往墓地。當空襲警報響起時，綁架者跑向避難所，兩名還活著的機組人員設法爬走並逃脫。
1944 年 8 月，168 名盟軍機組人員被認定為“恐怖飛行人員”，並被送往布痕瓦爾德 (Buchenwald)集中營。他們是來自英國、美國、澳洲、加拿大、紐西蘭和牙買加的傳單。在乘坐運牛車進行了五天的旅行後，飛行員被剃光了頭，被迫赤腳工作並在露天睡覺。如果不是被正在檢查附近空襲受損情況的德國空軍軍官發現，他們很可能都會被勞累致死。1944 年 10 月，機組人員被轉移到德國空軍戰俘營，並因此在戰爭中倖存下來。
也許針對盟軍機組人員的最臭名昭著的行為是處決 50 名從 Stalagluft III 戰俘營逃亡的人，這在流行文化中被稱為「大逃亡」。這些謀殺是希特勒直接下令的，而不是當地發起的。一般來說，規則是，如果盟軍機組人員被移交給德國空軍，他們很可能會受到符合日內瓦公約的待遇。然而，危險的部分是當它們落入蓋世太保、黨衛軍或當地憤怒平民團體等其他納粹組織手中時。
For the first half of the war there were many examples of the Luftwaffe treating downed allied pilots with kindness and respect. Pilots Douglas Bader and Bob Stanford Tuck were both given dinner and treated well by the German Ace Adolf Galland after they were shot down in 1941 and 1942. After the British pilot and double amputee Bader was shot down and captured the Germans even signalled the RAF to say that Bader was safe. They said he was a POW but had lost his artificial leg while baling out and asked the RAF to drop a spare for him, which they did.
Bader (smoking a pipe) being entertained by Galland (centre left).
Generally if western allied air crew were captured they would be handed over to the Luftwaffe who would question them for a few days but generally kept to the rules of the Geneva Convention. Conditions for allied aircrew as prisoners were not comfortable and food was often quite limited. Fortunately these men sometimes had access to Red Cross parcels which towards the end of the war were probably responsible for keeping them alive. Unlike Soviet prisoners, 95% of western allied POW’s survived the war. On average more Soviet prisoners died in a week than all the other western allies prisoners put together in the whole of the war.
As the war progressed and air raids increased in ferocity, conditions in Germany deteriorated. Goebels in his regular radio broadcasts encourage German civilians to take the law into their own hands and get revenge for the bombing on what he called “terrorflieger” or terror flyers. In Rüsselheim a place between Mainz and Frankfurt eight American aircrew were marched through the middle of the town. The nearby Opel factory had been bombed by the RAF the night before and the prisoners were attacked by two German women who threw bricks at them. Their guards stood by and did nothing. They were joined by male factory workers who joined in beating the aircrew using iron bars. As the prisoners lay bleeding and injured, an air raid warden shot each one in the head with a pistol. After six shots he ran out of ammunition and could not finish off the remaining concussed flyers. The eight bodies were loaded onto a cart and taken to the cemetery. When an air raid alert sounded they captors ran for the shelter the two crew members who were still alive managed to crawl away and escape.
In August 1944 168 Allied aircrew were identified as “terrorfliegers” and sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp. They were flyers from Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Jamaica. After a five day journey in a cattle truck the airmen had their heads shaven and were forced to work barefoot and sleep in the open air. It is likely they would have all been worked to death if they had not been spotted by Luftwaffe officers who were inspecting nearby air raid damage. In October of 1944 the aircrew were transferred to a Luftwaffe POW camp and as a result survived the war.
Perhaps the most notorious act against Allied air crew was the execution of 50 escapers from the POW camp Stalagluft III known in popular culture as ‘The Great Escape’. These murders were ordered directly by Hitler rather than local initiatives. Generally the rule was if allied air crew were handed over to the Luftwaffe they were likely to be treated in line with the Geneva convention. However the risky part was when they were in the hands of other Nazi organisations such as the Gestapo, the SS or local groups of enraged civilians.
The British actor Donald Pleasance, who starred in the Great Escape, was a conscientious objector in the Hitler war, until London was bombed. He then joined the RAF, serving as aircrew. He was shot down and Gestapo tore out his fingernails.
The actor who played the camp Commandant was the only other member of the cast to have been an actual POW - in his case he was in a camp in the UK.
Yes he survived the war, and I read somewhere the prisoners gave evidence to his good and fair treatment of the POWs
Ive read Guy Walters book The Real Great Escape which I would recommend. It is clear that the camp commandant and his deputy were humane men who treated prisoners appropriately. It is clear that they warned prisoners leaders what might happen if they caused embarrassment to the Nazi leadership through mass escapes.
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